My role here, at least on paper, is to live in this rural Ghanaian community, identify groups of people interested in small scale income generation and “agroforestry” practices (combining multipurpose trees with agriculture) and support projects based on these interests. That’s a bloodless description, disregarding the shock of entering an entirely new culture, the emotional highs and lows, the scramble for resources, and the hope that difficult work will bear fruit and produce some lasting benefit. There’s an element of ego as well; or rather, the investment of self-worth in the success or failure of the projects. In these aspects it’s not entirely dissimilar from the emotional life of the laboratory.

After a number of conversations with my community counterpart and a group of local farmers, we’ve begun our first project: the introduction of the multipurpose tree Moringa oleifera as a cash crop and potent hedge against malnutrition. (On a side note, the word “counterpart” always makes me think of C3PO and R2D2-my “counterpart” is my friend Barnabas, an extremely experienced cocoa and cashew farmer and one of the “opinion leaders” in our town. He is a very, very cool gentleman and none of this work would have progressed without his enthusiasm.)

Now, in my lab life I was a neurotoxicology guy, and originally came in from the biological psychology side. Working with plants is new to me, and it’s an unalloyed joy to share my growing familiarity with the organism Moringa oleifera as both a grower and a scientist. I find myself developing not just an appreciation but almost a sense of loyalty to its peculiar beauty and utility.

Moringa is a real pretty little tree, startings it’s life as a white seed with a hard, chalky consistency packed inside a brown outer hull. It’s closest relative on the tree of life is actually the papaya, which is an interesting lesson on the twists and turns of evolution and the need for genetic analysis. There is a papaya tree growing near my house and I would never in a million years have guessed any relationship (not saying much perhaps, given my ignorance of plant anatomy, but still).

After breaking through the outer hull (which can be facilitated by soaking the seeds in water overnight before planting, as we’ve learned) the seedling’s first action is to drop a deep taproot that quests downward even as the first sprigs of lobe-shaped leaves begin to unfurl. This is significant because the depth of the taproot enables moringa trees to thrive on otherwise marginal land, accessing water and nutrients below the initial layers of soil, and be intercropped with other plants, since it tends to not directly compete with root systems closer to the surface.

Moringa grows startlingly fast and is markedly drought resistance once established, both vital attributes in parts of world characterized by alternating rainy and dry seasons. It doesn’t require fertilizer (although of course benefits from it when available), to my knowledge doesn’t exhaust the land, and considering its edible, medicinal, and other uses it is damn near the perfect tropical plant. If moringa was a football team, I would be a scarf wearing supporter.

Although many parts of the plant are edible (as another aside, the roots and bark have medicinal properties that are used traditionally, although I’m not sure they have been formally explored), moringa accumulates large amounts of vitamins, minerals, and most strikingly protein in its leaves. The protein is complete, in the sense that all essential amino acids are represented. In addition to being a great fresh vegetable (the immature seed pods as well as the leaves are often eaten) the leaves can be dried and ground into a powder that is storable (a big deal in the tropics where food spoils very easily), easily transportable, and 27% protein by dry weight. (* A note on where this information comes from is below, citing sources and all that.) The leaf powder also contains significant amounts of the minerals Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Se, Zn and Vitamins A, C and E (B complex vitamins are found in fresh leaves).

Interesting as that is, the story of moringa is in its potential delivery of a tremendous amount of vitamins, minerals, and protein to people (most notably children and pregnan women)in parts of the world most lacking in the same. The ability of moringa leaves to be dried and ground into a concentrated powder allows the intake of significant amounts of these nutritional elements. For example (‘cause I know you science types love numbers)m 8g of leaf powder, about one rounded soup spoon’s worth, contains 13.6% of a small child’s RDA of protein, 40% of calcium, and 100% of Vitamin A, to choose one example each of minerals and vitamins. In my part of West Africa, people typically eat a carbohydrate staple dipped in a flavorful stew. A soupspoon of powder in a small child’s bowl of stew is a deliverable amount. And if this is done 2-3 times a day with meals, you’re talking a potentially very significant nutritional resource…

…but we’re not there yet. Right now our trees are 3" tall.

I try to stay appropriately humble since, despite my role as “crop introduction guy” I have never farmed or raised food in the tropics until now. Part of my education has been joining this project as a participant; making my own (very small) mixed farm under the instruction of the Ghanaians. I’m intercropping it with moringa according to the directions we got from the local Ministry of Food and Agriculture extension agent who has been helping us out with crop spacing and planting instructions.

There’s also the interesting wrinkle that my people primarily want to grow moringa as a cash crop to diversify their agricultural income. I wouldn’t say they’re uninterested in it as a food, but they’re definitely more interested in making a stable living from farming. This makes sense. Our project is both to introduce moringa as a food resource and to do so on a scale such that it could meet their need for money as well. This raised the challenge of acquiring seeds in quantity for the initial planting (subsequently we will get seeds from our trees), and my most significant contribution so far has probably been to help the farmers avoid getting jacked by some exploitative seed speculators (we eventually got ours from another Peace Corps Volunteer’s project).

As with all things Peace Corps, actually that’s a little snarky, as with all things period, success is not guaranteed. We’re growing a new crop, anxiously watching for germinating seeds, signs of insect predation, and a million other things that could kill a fragile little tree. Will the farmers find a reliable market for moringa? I hope so, and we’re starting to get some very encouraging news on that front, but it’s still a question mark. There’s also the danger (in my mind) that the knowledge of how and why to include moringa in the diet won’t take hold, and that it will be used solely as a cash crop. I don’t mind the profit motive, in fact I like the profit motive, but failing to leave that information would be selling this community short. So, we go forward, without any guarantee or easy answers, in of itself an education for an American abroad, particularly one who got used to the (relatively) clean certainties of the laboratory.

*One last thing, all the technical information on Moringa comes from a book called The Miracle Tree written and compiled by a guy named Lowell Fuglie who has really pioneered Moringa in West Africa. Major props and credit to him.